The Mysterious Youth
by Batouzhi
Summary: After the events the Karma Chameleon episode, Ashley is approached by an enigmatic teen that helps her get a new perspective on her life.
1. Meeting

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.  
  
A/N: This originally wasn't a Degrassi fic but I decided to make it one so if any ones ooc chalk it up to that and the fact that I'm only a casual fan of the show.  
  
The events of this story take place right after the Karma Chameleon episode.  
  
The leaves of the park trees where turning brown and orange. The air had a cold chill to it. All was quiet and serene. Yet as she sat crying on a wood bench, Ashley couldn't care less. She had no idea about her surroundings, as she was rightfully absorbed in her sorrowful thoughts. Everything was going wrong for her. She thought she had her friends back, but she was wrong. She thought no one would care if she went out with Sean, but she was wrong. She also had lost her best friend Terri, because she said something that was by all means, wrong. Oh yeah and it all start by making a decision that was, well you know. She had no clue how long she had been sitting at the bench. She had gone there soon after school got out. But in all veracity, Ash didn't even care. As she sat with her head buried in her hands, tears streaming from her eyes, she had just one thought. 'My life is over.'  
  
"Do you wanna talk about it?" a voice said as it sat down next to her. She looked up to see a light skinned, brown eyed boy with dark hair that looked to be in total disarray, except for the fact that the gel in it told you he wanted it to be like that.  
  
"No," she spat out. Her word had such harshness in fact that the boy nearly winced. He paused in thought and reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.  
  
"Hhhmm, you know, sometimes it helps to talk about these things," he sparked up before continuing, "I might be able to help." He held out the pack offering a cigarette to her, which she waved off. He shrugged and put his pack away.  
  
"It's not something you talk about to strangers," she said rebutting his last words.  
  
"Well at least you've stopped crying," he said with a warm smile. She hadn't even realized that she had stopped, that brought out a small smile. "Stranger huh, well then we'll have to fix that, My name is Robert."  
  
"I.I'm Ashley," she said as she wiped her tears.  
  
"So you go to Degrassi, right?"  
  
"Yea, how did you know?" she asked wondering if he went there too.  
  
"Your sweatshirt," he stated with a smile, the obvious of that causing Ashley to smile too. A few boys on the basketball court called for Robert.  
  
"Anyway I have to go, but could I.uh," suddenly his confidence fled him, he puffed at his cigarette, 'calm down' he thought as he exhaled, "could I get your number?" Ash pondered his question for a minute, and with the reasoning that no one else she knew would even talk to her she decided to let him have it.  
  
"Ok," she said, as he pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to her, then offered the back of his hand as a place to write it. She wrote it, capped the pen and gave it back.  
  
"Do you think I could call you tonight?" he asked now brimming with confidence.  
  
"Sure," she said smiling.  
  
"Ok, I will, nice meeting you," he waved and ran to the court.  
  
"Yea," she said to herself. You would still have to say that this was overall a bad day, but this was nice. She finally peeled her self from the bench and begun the walk home. 


	2. At Home With Ash

A/N :  
  
Ashley unlocked her front door quietly. It was dark out and she knew her mom would get on her case for coming home late. Sure enough she was scarcely in the house when her mom began the 'Where were you' and the 'I was so worried' lecture.  
  
"Glad that's over," Ashley muttered to herself as she trudged up the stairs. She went in to her bedroom, locked the door and sprawled out on her bed. Now she was all alone with her thoughts, and as it is human nature to dwell on the negative, Ashley's mind turned to the bad event's in her life, and her overwhelmed mind could no longer hold the tears back. An hour passed, and now she had come to the conclusion that the worst of everything had to be that Jimmy had called her a slut, of that much she was sure. 'People thought we get married,' she thought as she buried her head into her burgundy pillow, 'and now I fucked it up.' More tears started to flow at that realization. She attempted to stifle them by burying her head deeper in her pillow and soon had to come to terms that she had already buried as far as she could. She got up so she could grab a tissue from the nightstand adjacent to her bed. She blew her nose wiped tears with clean sheet, and looked surprised to see no make up came off. As she looked at her pillow she realized why, it was smeared where her eyes had been. A quick glance to the clock told her it was almost 7 o'clock, no wonder she was so hungry.  
  
She went down stairs and threw some leftovers in the microwave. Tobey was completely absorbed in some cartoon on the T.V., in fact he didn't even acknowledge his sisters existence. Ash wasn't in the mood to talk anyway. The microwave beeped alerting her that her meal was ready. She sat and the table and began to eat. Apparently her mom and dad had left the house to do who knows what.  
  
"Hey Ash," Tobey said tentatively. Guess his cartoon had ended.  
  
"Hey Tobey," Ashley sighed, not really paying any attention to him.  
  
"Mom said.," and then she tuned him out, "O.k.?"  
  
"Huh, uh yea whatever," she said having no clue what he was asking anyway. Tobey sat down across from her and looked down at the table, contemplating what to say next.  
  
"Look Ash, I know things have been tough.but, well, I got your back," he said softly attempting to be supportive.  
  
"Th.thanks Tobey, it means a lot," she said tears once again welling up, this time with somewhat of a tinge of happiness in them. He opened up his mouth to say something but she jetted up stairs and dove into bed, this time burying her head into her pillow and ending crying herself to sleep.  
  
+++++  
  
It was 8 o'clock and Tobey was once again watching T.V. The phone rang and he patted the around the table on the side of him, not wanting to take his eyes off the T.V. Finally he found it after it rang a few times.  
  
"Hello?" he asked, paying more attention to the T.V. still.  
  
"Is.uh.Ashley there?" Robert inquired tentatively.  
  
"Yeah but I think she asleep."  
  
"Oh.uh who is this?"  
  
"I'm her brother," Tobey replyed, not wanting to give up too much information. (Safety first!!)  
  
"Ok, well tell her Robert called for her ok bro?"  
  
"Ok, bye." Tobey hung up and went back to his cartoon, and all that he was just told was pushed to the back of his mind.  
  
+++++  
  
A/N: Well, tell me what you think. I'm not sure about the direction of the story for sure yet. I do have a main idea already on paper but I never do stick to the plan. Also I'm looking to watch the show to make sure I nail the character's personalities better. Anyway story or plot suggestions are welcome. 


	3. Looking Up, Carefully

To anyone who looked forward to reading this sorry for the hiatus. The day after I posted Chapter 2 I switched ISP's and didn't get them back till today. Lucky you because now this story has a plot and my writing techniques have improved. There will be some oocness in this chapter but its needed to advance the plot. Enjoy.  
  
+++++  
  
Ashley awoke to her mothers urging. She groggily sat up and took in herself. She had fallen asleep in her clothes, and she had dried make-up on cheeks that had formerly run when it had mixed with tears. A nights sleep had slightly eased the pain from the day before.  
  
She got out of bed and hastily changed into a pair black jeans, and a red top. She completed her outfit with the same Degrassi sweatshirt she had haphazardly thrown across her the evening before. It may not have been the most fashionable thing she could have worn, but what did it matter? She'd only worn that trendy garb to fit in, and now, the world that she'd been the most perfect resident of didn't want her. But still how she yearned for it to take her back.  
  
But at the moment her mind wasn't reminding her of that, instead it begging her to find away out of going to school today. It didn't want the stress of Paige and her clones weighing her down today. GOD! Did she really have to go? Her mother beckoning her down stairs served to also tell her: yes you do.  
  
She walked down stairs somberly. Her mom greeted her cheerily, but her only response was to wave weakly. The tiredness and depression made every motion cumbersome. Ashley poured herself and breakfast of Cheerios and sat down before realizing she forgot the milk. She stood up with a whine and a stomp of her foot, much like a five-year old throws a temper tantrum, before finally trudging over to fridge and getting the milk, all the while cursing under her breath. Her mom continued to eye her worriedly. She decided to break the silence as she watched Ash sit down.  
  
"Ash," she began cautiously, "Tobey told me you where having a bad day yesterday," her voice said in an incredibly comforting voice, "Is there anything I can do to help?"  
  
"Feh. Not unless you can change the past," she stated in a tone that was borderline amused. 'But not making me go to school would help,' she thought.  
  
"Well, let me know if I can help, or if you need someone to talk to, Okay?" she said smiling warmly.  
  
"Okay mom, I will," she replied, hints of depression creeping into her voice.  
  
"And remember I love you Ashley."  
  
"I love you too mom," and with that her mom left the house. +++++  
  
As she walked up the stairs to Degrassi, Paige was nearly drooling with the prospect of ridiculing Ashley. She was happy that Ash had got a tasteof her old life, only to lose it much to Paige's doing. Even better Ash lost Terri to her. 'Terri,' she thought smugly, 'how easy pawns are to control.'  
  
Though Paige usually wasn't this evil but years of standing in one's shadow does tend to make the enveloped one harbor resentment.  
  
"Hi, Hazel!" she exclaimed as she waved to her friend (A/N clone).  
  
"Hey Paige," Hazel called back also waving. The two friends set into conversation in which no else but they could possibly understand due to their insanely fast pace of talking. Watching them talk together was truly a sight to behold due to the emphatic, if not melodramatic nature of the gestures the two made. After sometime of this Paige caught sight of Ashley and shushed Hazel. She turned towards Ash with crossed arms and a sour face. As if she couldn't think on her own Hazel did the same.  
  
Ashley walked slowly, looking down at the floor so she wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. With every step she took she prayed she was invisible.  
  
"Look Hazel, she's wearing the same shirt as yesterday."  
  
God to Ashley: "Prayer Unanswered."  
  
"I wonder how she'll screw up today?" Hazel's remark felt like a blow to stomach had just been delivered to Ash. She continued walking silently.  
  
"Wow wo..."  
  
"Look at the pop star clones trying to make up for their own deficiencies by picking on others." The first word that popped into Ashley's mind was savior. Her savior came in the form of Ellie Nash.  
  
"Look, Ellie," Paige said sounding flustered, "you are so not popular enough to be in this conversation," she finished, shooting daggers at Ellie.  
  
"I may not be popular, but at least I didn't buy my personality at GAP," As Ellie strode away walked away, all Paige and her clone could do was stand shocked with their mouths agape. Ashley scurried away in the confusion. (A/N: Remember this scene.)  
  
Ash finally caught up with Ellie. "That was nice of you, but you didn't have to do that, and you shouldn't have."  
  
"Why not?" Ellie asked, truly not understanding why Ash thought that way.  
  
"You really don't want to be on Paige's bad side," Ash answered from expriance.  
  
"Well if your well if you're worried about her saying things about me or to me, I think I got that covered and if not, well I have a thick skin. And if you mean it's harder to get popular," She smiled slyly at Ash, "well that's not really my deal anyway," Ashley smiled back, "I'm Ellie."  
  
"Ashley," the two girls stopped at their respective lockers to realize they were just a few doors away. Well at least for Ashley to realize seeing how Ellie had figured that out when Ash and Sean had the falling out yesterday. The two walked to first period in the computer lab and ended up sitting across the room from each other.  
  
As Ashley sat down she started to think, 'Someone talked to me, even better stood up for me,' she began to cheer up until a little pessimist voice popped into her head, 'yeah but things started out great yesterday too and look what happened.' She ponder this for while, weighing the pro's and con's of feeling optimistic. Finally she settled on the viable conclusion to be a balance of both opti and pessimistic. She settled into her work smiling, be it ever so slightly, but still, smiling.  
  
+++++  
  
Lunch time had rolled around and presently Ashley was in line for lunch. It had in fact been a decent day at least to this point. After Ellie chastised Paige and her faithful clone Hazel, the duo seemed content to just turn up their noses to Ash and never said a word about that she could hear. Jimmy pretended she didn't exist which was fine because she wasn't making any effort to talk to him anyway. She had ran into Sean before second period and tried to him to her by paying him back for lunch, but he just said forget it and walked off. She couldn't get up the nerve to talk to Terri even thought she yearned to talk to her former best friend. Terri felt the same way but couldn't defy Paige's mandate that no one was to talk to Ashley.  
  
But on the plus side nothing had gone horribly wrong so far, and after yesterday that was more than a minor victory to her. Then again it is pretty hard for thing to get worse when you've hit rock bottom.  
  
"Buck fifty," called the lunch lady, snapping Ash from her train of though. She handed over the money and began to scour the lunch room for an open table.  
  
+++++  
  
Down the lunch line a conflict raged on in Jimmy's head as he watched Ashley. On one side he was thinking about the fact that she cheated on him and now was going to date the guy she cheated on him with, who was Sean who he hated anyway. (A/N: I'm pretty sure Jimmy doesn't know Ash and Sean's date was called off) On the other side he was thinking about the long relation that had ended over one mistake albeit a big, still one mistake. Was he to hard on her? Was he wrong to call her a slut? Deep down, he had to admit he still loved her.  
  
"...JIMMY!!" Spinner tugged sharply on Jimmy's t-shirt yanking him from his trance.  
  
"WHAT?" Jimmy said annoyed.  
  
"Wow, it only took five 'Jimmy's' and a tug" Spinner pointed down the lunch line, "you gonna move it or what?" Jimmy looked over to see at least four people had moved from where he stood.  
  
"Oh, SORRY," he called down the line embarrassedly, and walked to close the gap.  
  
"Where'd you go?" Spinner asked suppressing his will to laugh.  
  
"I was thinking,"  
  
"Duh, about what?" Jimmy looked at Spinner and thought about spilling his thoughts, he had even started to gesture before he thought better of it.  
  
"I'll tell you after school."  
  
+++++  
  
"Hi," Ashley chirped feigning cheer and with the forced grin to match. She hadn't found an empty table, and was now attempting to sit with Ellie who had a table to herself.  
  
"Wanna sit?" Ellie asked blandly as she looked up at Ashley. 'Why didn't she just ask me?' She thought as Ashley put her tray down, and started to sit.  
  
"Yes, Thank You," she said sounding relieved. "Um I don't think I properly thanked you for sticking up for me this morning."  
  
"You said it was nice of me, so I took it as implied," Ellie responded, putting Ash at ease, "besides from what I've seen you go through this week, those two idiots talking shit is the last thing you needed."  
  
"Well thanks for being considerate. You know, right now you're the closest I've got to a friend." Immediately she regretted her words. She looked at ground to hide her cheeks which had begun to burn red, trying to match her embarrassment. Unfortunately, there isn't a color that could match it at the moment.  
  
Ellie saw her embarrassment and quickly belayed Ash's embarrassment. "You're the closest I've got to a friend too. Maybe we should hang out this weekend or something?" In all truthfulness, Ellie really did want a friend. Even though she didn't know Ash, she felt some how connected to her. And mostly she just felt for poor girl.  
  
"Really?" Ash looked up at her surprised, the red in her cheeks starting to subdue.  
  
"Sure, I've got nothing to do," she reached into her back pack and pulled out a ripped corner of a binder paper and a pen and began to write. "Here, call me after school and we'll set something up," the blandness in Ellie's voice had disappeared. Ashley took the paper and put it in her pocket. For a moment she struggled to stifle tears of joy but quickly regained composure.  
  
"Okay, I will," she said gleefully, "anything in particular you want to do?"  
  
"We could..." the two girls began discussing what they could do. Both girls were elated that they had a new friend. And this time, Ashley's pessimistic thoughts were no where to be found.  
  
+++++  
  
Robert leaned against a handrail belonging to the Degrassi steps. His headphones were blaring angst filled rock lyrics into his ears. A quick glance at his watch told him that school should get out...he heard shrill cry of a school bell over his music and almost instantly a stampede of kids poured out of Degrassi's doors. He scanned the crowd coolly. He finally spotted Ashley and put his earphones neck, reached into his black jeans pocket and turned off his CD player before casually walking over to her.  
  
"Hi, Ashley."  
  
+++++  
  
Soon I will post Chapter 4: Rock Bottom's Jet Pack. Weird title? Not if you've read Chapter 4! 


	4. Rock Bottoms Jet Pack

2/01/2002. Let us always remember the Colombia and the seven brave astronauts that sadly perished. If nothing else then let it be known that at least because of them I now have the firm conviction that I WILL go to space someday.  
  
A/N: Sorry I haven't posted for so long but I wanted to wait to the end of the season so I could write it would make sense with the past season. Also I wrote in a twist (not for awhile) and put more of Ellie in it just because I think there's only something like 2 other stories that have El in them.  
  
Did you know that the alphabet song and twinkle twinkle little star have the same melodie?  
  
Rock Bottom's Jet Pack  
  
Robert leaned against a handrail belonging to the Degrassi steps. His headphones were blaring angst filled rock lyrics into his ears. A quick glance at his watch told him that school should get out...he heard shrill cry of a school bell over his music and almost instantly a stampede of kids poured out of Degrassi's doors. He scanned the crowd coolly. He finally spotted Ashley and put his earphones neck, reached into his black jeans pocket and turned off his CD player before casually walking over to her.  
  
"Hi, Ashley," he said trying to sound casual.  
  
"Hey Robert. What are you doing here?" there was a spark to her now and Robert instantly picked up on it.  
  
"Well someone had a good day," he chuckled, "oh yeah, I called last night but you're your brother...um," he snapped his fingers repeatedly as if to spark his memory.  
  
"Tobey," Ashley offered.  
  
"Yea, that's it. Tobey told me you were asleep, so since I had nothing more pressing to do, I decided to see you in person. 'More pressing,' he thought, 'I must sound like a nerd.'  
  
+++++  
  
Jimmy had ran through the halls as fast as Michael Johnson could run the 400 Meters to try and catch up with Ashley. He franticly picked his way through the crowded Degrassi halls with surgeons precision. He stopped just outside the door and began to rapidly search the massive crowd in front of him. When he finally spotted his heart sank. She was talking to some guy he had never seen before, and as she crossed the street he noticed she was wearing a smile bigger then she had when things were going well on Wednesday. He had decided to talk to her anyway when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Your not...gonna get away...with out telling me...that easy," Spinner said through his panting and heavy breathing.  
  
"Come on Spin, I'll explain on the way home," he said dejectedly and start off home.  
  
+++++  
  
"...so after Sean pretty much blew me off nothing happened until lunch when I sat down with Ellie,"  
  
"The one from this morning?"  
  
"Yea, so I thanked her and she said it was no problem and that she knew I was having a bad week..." and so Ashley continued explaining her day talking at a record pace. She wouldn't usually tell so much to someone who is by all accounts a stranger, but she was too elated to care. Robert just smiled as he absorbed the details of Ashley's new found happiness. She ended up tell him the whole account in just three minutes.  
  
"Wow, I'm happy for you, looks like the people down at rock bottom gave you a jet pack to help get things back to normal," Robert said trying to sound philosophical.  
  
"Not really," Ashley said losing some of the excitement in her voice, "Paige still hates me and a lot of people won't be your friend at Degrassi if she doesn't like you."  
  
Robert was quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "Well it's the quality of your friends, not the quantity."  
  
"Yea, I guess your right."  
  
"Besides, Paige sounds like she'd be a crappy friend to me," Robert said putting his hands behind his head." The two remained silent until Robert finally broke the silence. "Oh, I forgot," once again he lost his cool and became nervous. "I was wondering if you would uh wanna catch a movie with me Sunday?" Ashley snapped into her conservative reality.  
  
"You know, I don't really know that well........"  
  
"My full name is Robert Ryan Bishop, I'm 5'7" and a hundred.........uh I forget pounds, I'm home schooled I enjoy writing and I'll kick anyone's ass in basketball," he said so fast he probably didn't catch half of it. Ashley had begun snickering, and Robert only now realizing that his cool act was blown was turning red. He quickly composed himself and tried to play cool again. "Listen," he said casually this time. "Dating is all about finding out if your meant for each other, now how are we gonna figure out if where right if we don't date."  
  
"Ok," Ashley said, "Sunday it's a date."  
  
"Good, I don't take rejection to well" he said lighting up a cigarette. "You know once I got turned down cause I was to smart." He didn't show it but he was feeling awkward. Usually after he asked a girl out they went there separate ways.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yea, stupid shit reason huh?"  
  
"I think so. Can I ask why you decided to talk to me yesterday?" She didn't no why she asked but she attributed it to the fact that she was feeling awkward.  
  
"Sure, number because you were crying and if I ever see a girl cry I gotta try to console her," he said shrugging his shoulders. A small grin broke onto his face. "And even though you were crying I could tell your cute when your happy, so I decided that maybe if I could get your number we could end up getting to know each other and somewhere down the line hook up."  
  
Ashley was wondering how anyone could be so brash and admit what he just did, and honestly he was wondering how he did it too. "So you planed this all when you first saw me" she said with a look of disbelief in her face.  
  
"Well first I thought I'd try to help you stop crying. Then when I got number I decided I wanted to get to know you better. But I never have a plan. Really I like to fly by the seat of my pants."  
  
"I'm glad you decided you want to get to know me better," Ashley said sheepishly.  
  
"Me too."  
  
They arrived at Ashley's house shortly after Robert told her that he call her later that night with a "game plan" for their date. Feeling both bold and confident, Ashley gave him a peck on the cheek before he left, expecting to see his face turn red. But instead it remained the same color, and an ear to ear smile appeared on his face before he turned and walked toward the park. Needless to say he was happy.  
  
+++++ Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter: Preparation and a Long Walk. Remember to review. Reviews help motivate to type these up (I write them in my notebook first.), and I need a lot of motivation (i.e. reviews) because I'm having a hard time sitting down to type lately. Also I will be updating more frequently depending on reviews. And that's a promise. So review review review.  
  
I bet you sang or hummed the alphabet song and twinkle twinkle little star, didn't you? 


End file.
